Cut-Out Sugar Cookies!

It is Christmastime and I think it is pretty safe to say that everyone's favorite Christmas cookie (or at least what they think of at Christmastime) is a cut-out and decorated sugar cookie.  Now for a gluten and dairy free version (by very popular demand!!)  :o)

Rolled and Cut-Out Sugar Cookies
2 cups butter or butter substitute, softened (I use Earth Balance dairy free sticks)
1 cup sugar
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
3 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
4 cups gluten free flour blend (one that contains xanthan gum)
1 cup almond flour
Additional 1/2 cup-1 cup gluten free flour blend (as or if needed)

• Place butter or butter substitute, sugar, and powdered sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer.  Stir to blend ingredients together and then beat for about 2 minutes at medium speed.  Add vanilla and combine.  Add eggs one at a time and blend well after each addition.  
• Add the 4 cups of gluten free flour, 1 cup almond flour, salt, and baking powder.  Mix just enough to combine the ingredients well.  The dough should be somewhat soft but not gooey.  Add an additional 1/2 cup to 1 cup gluten free flour if necessary to form a nice dough that isn't really sticky.  
• Transfer the dough to an airtight plastic container and place in the refrigerator at least overnight.  You want the dough to be completely chilled--NO shortcuts here or your dough won't roll out.  

Chilled dough

• After your dough is chilled (leave the dough in the refrigerator until the very last minute).  Gather all of your ingredients--cookie sheets, rolling pin, cookie cutters, gluten free flour for dusting...  Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  
• After you have gathered everything you need, now you can bring your dough out of the refrigerator.  Pull out about 1/4 of the dough (it is much easier to work with in small amounts) and place the remaining dough back in the refrigerator.  Roll out your dough on a lightly floured gluten free surface to about 3/8 inch-1/2 inch thickness (you want the dough thicker than with normal sugar cookie dough--this will yield a softer cookie that won't crumble like a lot of other gluten free cookies out there).  Cut out with desired cookie cutters and immediately place on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake at 375 degrees for about 8-10 minutes.  The baking time will vary here depending on how thick you rolled out your cookies and the size of your cookie cutters.  Use the times given here as just a guideline--there is nothing worse that burnt sugar cookies!  Remove from pans and allow to cool completely.  You can also bake these on parchment (my preference) but it is not necessary.  
• Take your scraps from your first rolling and another 1/4 of the dough from the refrigerator.  Lightly gather them together and then roll out as before.  Continue until all dough is used.    

Sorry, in my excitement I forgot to take a picture of the baked/unfrosted cookies....  You will have to imagine that picture.  :o)  

Now for the frosting: You can use your favorite frosting recipe or the one that I often use to decorate cakes.  Click here for the recipe.   This particular recipe calls for margarine, but you can either use vegetable shortening or Earth Balance dairy free spread in place of the margarine if you need to be dairy free.  Also, you can use any type of milk substitute for the milk (soy, almond, coconut milk).  You could even use water if you want in place of the milk.  Color the icing as desired and have fun decorating your sugar cookies.  Here are some examples of mine:

  

They don't all have to be super pretty--in my family it is a tradition to cover them with nuts, M & M's, or mini chocolate chips.  I think this started with my Dad because he wanted to get the cookie decorating project over faster (we always decorated Christmas cookies as a family)....but I also think he just wanted an extra dose of candy, chocolate, or nuts with his sugar cookies!!  So, just for my Dad I had to make some with lots of chocolate chips on them: 

Put them on pretty trays and enjoy!!

In all of the hustle and bustle of this busy Christmas season, let's remember the true meaning of why we are celebrating.  Jesus humbled Himself and left all of the glory of heaven to take on human form and be born as a baby in Bethlehem.  He lived a perfect and sinless life and died a cruel death on the cross in our place so that He could give us His perfect righteousness through faith in Him.  God's love for us is so incredible.  We can't earn our way to heaven because we can't do anything good enough so He provided a way through Jesus Christ.  What greater gift could we ask for?  

"And the angel said to them, 'Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.  And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.'"  Luke 2:10-12

"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.  For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.  Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God."  John 3:14-18

"Thanks be to God for His inexpressible gift!"  2 Corinthians 9:15

Cake Pops!

(Just a note to my regular readers....some of the candies used or shown aren't gluten AND dairy free.  Be careful and read the labels.  I created these for a workshop at a ladies retreat so not everything had to be gluten free.  Often those of us who are gluten free have to go without "fun" treats so I thought this would be a fun way to create our own.  I hope this blog post will inspire you to create your own by showing you how easy it is to make cake pops that are super cute.  We can have fun, cute, and yummy treats too!!)

You will need:
1 cake mix
Ingredients to make cake
1/3-1/2 cup of pre-made frosting
Lollipop sticks
Almond bark or candy melts
Sprinkles, chocolate chips, nuts, or any other toppings of choice

Bake cake according to package directions.  It doesn't matter what size cake you make but I would recommend doing it in a 9 x 13" pan just so there are fewer "crust" portions on the cake (as opposed to two 8-inch rounds or cupcakes).  Any size cake will work though so don't fret.  Allow cake to cool completely

Cut the cake into chunks (how big or small doesn't really matter--you are just cutting it into pieces so that it is easier to work with).  Here you have two options.  The first is to just crumble the cake up by hand until you have small crumbs.  The second is to put the cake chunks into a stand mixer and let the mixer do all the work for you.  This is my preferred method.  :o)  Either way, mix the cake chunks until they are crumbly and mix in 1/3-1/2 cup of pre-made frosting.  The mixture should come together and make a dough-like consistency.  It should look something like this when it is ready:

Next, break off portions of the "dough" and roll them into balls.  You can just do random sizes or use a melon baller or cookie scoop to do this.  Roll them until they are nice and round.  Continue until all "dough" is used up.

Now it is time for the fun!  Place chopped almond bark (you can use white or chocolate) in a glass or microwave-safe bowl.  Microwave at about 30% power for 3 minute increments.  Stir and return for another 3 minutes at 30% power until thoroughly melted.  DO NOT OVERHEAT!  Overheating chocolate or almond bark will cause it to get thick and hard to work with or worse yet will just cause it to burn.  You should be able to take the bowl out of the microwave without hot pads.  If it is so hot that you can't touch the bowl or the chocolate then you over-heated it.  If you are using candy melts the same melting process applies.  Almond bark is available at your local grocery store (or even Wal-Mart) and Candy Melts are available at a lot of craft-type stores such as JoAnn's, Hobby Lobby, or Michaels.  These same craft stores carry the lollipop sticks as well.

Once your chocolate is melted check the consistency.  You may need to add a little bit of oil (canola or vegetable oil) to the chocolate to thin it out a little bit.  Don't go crazy here but you don't want the chocolate too thick either--if it doesn't seem to be dipping well add more oil.

Dip your lollipop stick just slightly into the chocolate.  Put the lollipop stick into your cake balls--pushing it almost all the way down into the whole ball.  Allow the chocolate on the stick in the cake ball to set slightly before dipping--this helps the cake ball stay on the stick when you dip it into the chocolate.  Once the chocolate is set slightly, dip the cake ball completely into the melted chocolate in your bowl.  Place the cake pop into sprinkles if desired or place on parchment paper to set.  Or, you can set the stick in a piece of styrofoam or a cardboard box to create a perfectly round cake pop.

Veggie Pizza

First we will start with Wonderfully Made Gluten Free's pizza crust.  You can purchase it at the Waterfront Hy-Vee in Iowa City, Wilson Avenue Hy-Vee in Cedar Rapids, or the Lindale/Collins Road Hy-Vee in Cedar Rapids.  You will find them in the health market freezer section and they come packaged like this:

Remove the pizza crust from the packaging and place it on a pan, large plate, or serving dish.  Allow to thaw out completely.  (It tastes even better warm so you can also warm it up in the oven slightly--follow directions on package but for this recipe just warm the crust without the cream cheese or toppings--put those on afterwards.)
In a bowl combine:
4 ounces softened cream cheese (you can use a dairy free alternative if you can't tolerate dairy)
4 ounces sour cream (or dairy free alternative)
1 Tablespoon dried parsley
3/4 teaspoon dill weed
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons dried onion flakes
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon dried chives
1/2 teaspoon salt
Stir together well and spread on top of pizza crust.  It should look like this (sorry for the bad picture--the cream cheese mixture doesn't even look white).












If you don't wish to use cream cheese for the topping then you can use a pre-made guacamole or hummus spread to go on top instead.

Sprinkle or place whatever assortment of fresh vegetables on top of the cream cheese mixture.  You can use carrots, tomatoes, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, onions, red (or yellow or green) peppers, mushrooms, cucumbers, olives, or anything else you can think of.  I used 1 cup chopped carrots, 1 cup chopped red pepper, 1 1/2 cups chopped broccoli, and 1 cup chopped cauliflower for this particular pizza.  Serve immediately.